Opposites Attract
by RavenclawKB
Summary: Draco and Hermione are Heads I know, too cliche. But when Draco falls in love with Hermione, will she be able to understand him or send him back to the lonely lifestyle of an orphaned Death Eaters' son? Thank you for 5,000 views!
1. Letter to Readers

Hello readers,

I would like to offer a sincere thank you to those who have remained subscribed to this story even though it has been under revision for seven (painfully embarrassing to think of) years.

The good news is I have finally (sincerely) begun writing again. I have about thirty ideas simmering in my head, and about four that are bursting in my fingertips, hardly waiting to be written. Unfortunately, this story is not among them but will be soon! I've already begun revising and will do my best to develop the story over the next few weeks.

I do also have a few other Harry Potter stories I'm anxious to write, so please give them a visit and I hope that you enjoy them.

For the time being, I will leave the old chapters of my awkward writing beginnings up for any newcomers who may have an interest, but please be aware that before I post any new content I will revise the previously posted chapters so that they do not sound like the scribblings of a seventh-grader.

Thank you for your attention and patience,

Kat


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Good News?

Hermione Granger was sitting on her bed reading, as usual, when she got the list of requirements for her last year at Hogwarts. She was rather glad, she had now been elected to be the Head Girl. She knew she had to share a room with the head boy, they had to be together so as to wake the other up for whatever sort of emergency. She hoped dearly it would be Ron or perhaps the Ravenclaw prefect. She would be able to act mature about it.

She set her book aside to look over the letter again. Head Girl. She traced her fingers over the letters on the badge. Too bad the letter didn't include who would be the Head Boy. _Oh well, she thought. It just has to be Ron, he's easily the best boy prefect but Ravenclaw does cut him close…Ah, I'll leave it aside. Surprises are always interesting._ Besides thinking different for she normally hated surprises, she had acquired new self-confidence. All her friends had always told her she was pretty, and tried hard to make her aware of it. It was only recently however where she had began to take pride in her looks, at this moment observing herself in the mirror.

Her body had long ago acquired complementing curves, she just never had the will to flaunt them. Recently upon events she realized she needed some fun in her life as certain events caused her to realize she didn't have the adventures she used to and needed to do something to get some kind of irresponsibility in her life. She had sworn not to go too far, not till she graduated. It was just a tease for some time with her nose out of her books. Her hair fell down straight now, due to her mastery of spell work it would never frizz again.

Meanwhile, unaware to Hermione as she admired how stunning she looked if she just wore the proper clothes, a boy was sitting lonesome in a manor far away. Since his father had died and his mother had fell sick he had become a prisoner in his own home. He had been left expectations by his father he knew he would never complete, now he had to take care of his mother also why she was wilting away, slipping through life's hands. He wouldn't follow his father's dreams, he had lost everyone of his friends, all his popularity in a single day of his father's work.

Miserable and consumed by thought Draco Malfoy tightly gripped the iron bar outlining the balcony off his room. He leaned down on the cold bar and gazed at the darkening forest outside. He had been, as expected, a bratty child but now he had grown up and his parents expected his less-than-friendly attitude to grow. After he had seen what happened to Voldemort's followers he wasn't going forward. They were all gone, taken by plague the moment Voldemort died, even in death he picked them off one by one.

He would not find another person to lead the new generation into living Voldemort's dream. This was his life, wasted as it was. Everyone was gone, people at school hated him, even other Slytherins, Aunt Bella died, his father had died, his mother was dying. Reflecting on all of his problems just made it all worse. Nothing would go back to his days of mere practical jokes ever again. He ran a hand through his hair and glanced up at the ever-darkening horizon. He felt the sun was never going to rise after this. At least his mother wouldn't see it rise.

Just then a large eagle owl rounded the corner of Malfoy Manner and dropped two letters at his feet. One was the average size while the other was strangely large. _Who in the world would be mailing me? _Draco thought to himself. He picked it up to see emerald green ink on both, clearly addressed to a Mister Draco Malfoy. _Oh my, _Draco realized, _they can't possibly want me back. I almost got them killed. How in the world am I getting invited back to Hogwarts?_ His mind was at a loss why he was reaccepted but when he opened the larger envelope he would have fell off the balcony, were it not for the iron guard rail. It was a miracle he was allowed back on the very grounds, who had made him Head Boy?

Two weeks had passed since the arrival of their letters and all of the students were congregating at Platform 9 ¾. Of course, Hermione had long since told Ron and Harry the good news, all of the Weasley family knew too. The three were talking and awaiting for the time to board, meanwhile a sullen Draco Malfoy looked at the surrounding students and just sat on the side, frustratingly running his fingers through his hair. Deciding it was best not to stay with all of the people, he had only recently been entirely cut off from society, now he was being forcefully pushed into it again.

Draco paced the length of the train and eventually found an empty compartment. He took a seat near the window and gazed out of it. Unfortunately, he still had to overlook the other students but at least he was now at a distance from them. His eye was caught by Potter's little trio. They were all crowded in a little group, obviously catching up and laughing at each other. _How could they still laugh and have fun after they've easily gone through twice as much as me? _Draco wondered to himself, _How is it they can still enjoy happiness with ease and I must struggle to find point to my own life?_

His thoughts weren't disturbed as the final horn blew and people boarded the plane but they were when Dumbledore used a magical loudspeaker of sorts to call Head Boy and Head Girl to their meeting at the back compartment. Hermione called good-bye to her friends and they offered to take her stuff when they find a compartment. "No you two, wait for Ginny. I don't know if I have to stay there the whole time or not." She instructed, then she left.

They glanced at each other for a moment and just waved back to her as she bounced down the hallway towards the Head's compartment. She pushed her suitcase into the room first then walked in, closing the compartment door behind her. Expecting it to be Jacob Aaron, the Ravenclaw prefect, but instead heard a spine-tingling drawl from her front as she looked up. "Granger! I should have known."

Hermione dropped her trunk and fell over backwards. Luckily her seat was behind her and she didn't suffer an injury. "Y-y-you! _Why _are _you _in here!" She wouldn't believe her eyes. He was playing a prank, he had to be. How low can someone get?

Draco flashed his trademark smirk as a preceding action to his answer, "Same as you, Granger. I'm the new Head." Hermione could tell how much he thoroughly enjoyed her look of misery. She propped her elbows on her knees and buried her face in her hands. The thick curls of auburn hair fell forward around her where her face would have been, had it not been covered. To save from further torture at that moment, Professor Dumbledore walked in.

"Ah, Miss Granger, it seems you and Mr. Malfoy have already discovered your new positions. I'm sure you know each other well enough by now." Dumbledore paused a moment, to let it sink in to Hermione it wasn't a joke. She lifted her head from her hands and gaped open-mouthed at him. It seemed she would have spoke but Dumbledore beat her to it, "You were informed of your duties in the parcel you received and I just need you to supervise with me as all of the new prefects come in here for there lecture." Malfoy smirked again, wearing a mask over his pain. All Hermione could do was groan.

Miserably she sat through fifteen minutes of torture. Malfoy kept flashing her malicious grins and all she could do was fight not to choke. Dumbledore seemed to notice and when his lecture was over simply said to them, "You two will have to get along now as you must share a room. If you get into conflict enough times, you will both be expelled." As soon as he sat down a moment they were at each other's throats.

"You loathsome creature! If you EVER give me looks such as those again I will kill you while you sleep!" Hermione steamed.

"Slow down, Granger. It's not like I actually am glad about these arrangement either. Who would want to share a room with a buck-toothed muggle?" Malfoy challenged her in insults.

"You creep! I am not a muggle, maybe to you it's jealousy that the world's most perfect little pureblood isn't as good in his classes as a muggle-born? Also, my teeth were fixed to a normal size in fourth year you little" Lord only knows what chaos could have happened had Dumbledore not stepped in.

"As I said, you will have to learn to get along." The two glared at him. Chuckling, he added, "Good luck with that!" and left the compartment.

Hermione and Draco flashed each other a last murderous look of pure hatred before she grabbed her suitcase and dragged it off through the door. Malfoy stayed where he was and watched her throw her things together in a huff. He had nowhere else to go, he would never be welcomed again. She was so mad when she left she didn't realize the door didn't close on her like it did before when she struggled to get her stuff in, this time a hand held it open.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Taunts & Tattoos

Eventually the sounds of banging died away and obviously Draco had given up. Hermione sighed contentedly and rolled to face her window as she fell asleep. Stroking Crookshanks she lulled herself into a peaceful rest. Draco on the other hand barely slept. He had never slept on anything other than a bed in his life. _Granger, no. _He argued with himself, _Hermione. I'll call her Hermione from now on._

Come morning she lifted the spell on the bedroom door only to find Draco had put one on the bathroom. "Malfoy!" she screamed, infuriated. "Open this door! Let me in this instant! You…" commanded Hermione but as she began to say how horrible he was the door, of course, fell open and she went plummeting to the ground.

Draco had a slight look of amusement on his face and bewilderment. "Why didn't you help me?" she fumed.

"You told me not to touch you. Don't you remember, it was just last night." Draco reminded her.

"Ooh…you!" she hissed at him as he grabbed her arm to help her up.

"You fall an awful lot, Hermione." He observed.

"Well maybe if you…hey! What did you just call me?" Hermione countered, glaring at him. Her piercing look flickered from his feet to his eyes, where she held it.

Blood rushed to his face, forcing him to blush. "Granger" he murmured looking away.

She gave him a harsh glare trying to figure out what he was up to. "Don't act like I'm your friend, Malfoy. We don't like each other just must get along as acquaintances." Hermione chastised.

He merely sighed and watched her walk back to their room, pulling her hair up as she went. As she stalked off he saw her bare shoulder and couldn't help noticing a lion tattoo. It was average in size, standing on its hind legs apparently roaring. When her shoulder moved its front legs appeared to be moving. Draco couldn't help himself, it was fascinating to watch. He shook his head thoroughly, scare of the thought he had. He desperately tried to push it away. For a moment he had fancied Hermione Granger.

"Ah, I see the two of you have survived the night." Dumbledore began, watching the glare Draco gave Hermione, "Or in the least no blood has been spilt." Hermione sent Dumbledore a look that purely said 'not _yet_.' Seeing his greeting wouldn't do the two any good he gave up. "Well, the two of you have the day off. Your lessons don't start until tomorrow so feel free to do as you please." As they walked out Draco took another attempt at forging a peace treaty of sorts, he held the door open for her. Noticing this Dumbledore couldn't help but smile. "By the way," the two stopped and looked, Hermione half way through the door, "there is a spell to put up a wall in the middle of your bedroom so you won't have to share a room anymore. We usually leave it down in case of emergencies due to the fact you've grown accustomed to having room mates when you were in your houses. Just in case one of you were to get sick, I would like you to take the wall down at such a time. The book it's in will be on the couch when you get back."

Oddly, both wanted to go back to the common room. Instantly, Hermione found the book and started to look for the wall spell. Within minutes her and Draco had separate bedrooms. Neglecting the fact she may ever need help if she were to get sick or would need a roommate she made sure that her door needed a password. She didn't want him bothering her at all. Anyway, she had a lamp next to her bed now and she would be able to finally read at night. Hermione tried to think of someone to visit but all of her friends had lessons starting today. She considered Hagrid and realized he had probably started teaching already also. Draco looked at her and by her face could tell she was pondering what to do. _What's it like to have so many choices of what you could do with your life?_ He wondered. _If only I could remember a time when I had friends and things to do._

Hermione noticed him staring at her and did the first thing that came to mind, she stuck out her tongue. _Oh, that was so childish! _She yelled at herself. _Why couldn't I have just made a mean face? He's so much better at that than me._ Draco took this as a sign that he had been staring but couldn't help but laugh. "What was that Granger?" he taunted.

Hermione went to the library for the rest of the day so she could be alone, without Draco sitting in the common room. He knew she had left because of him. He didn't know how but it hurt him. One person in the world he had the chance of a friendship with, even if it was one in a million, and no matter what he did she couldn't stand being in a room with him. After a few moments had passed he followed her to the library. She didn't hear him and he considered going up to her and apologizing for whatever he had done but decided against it. He himself couldn't figure out why he had followed her and figured it was probably just a desperate longing for human company. If he didn't get her to like him, he'd have absolutely nobody.

Hermione felt happy that she had some time to quietly read but felt uncomfortable the whole time. She wasn't sure why, but she felt like someone was watching her. She turned around too look, Draco slipped behind a book case and hoped she couldn't see him. This was useless and probably would make her hate him more. Despite that, he stayed and watched her through the shelves. He kept glancing, trying to find the tattoo again. At one moment when she went to stand up the left sleeve of her robe slipped. Underneath her school robes she was wearing a spaghetti strap which clearly revealed her shoulder once the robe fell. There it was again, the tattoo, moving as she did with its fangs bared.

She walked up to the librarian's desk and began to ask if she could take the books out. Draco bolted past while her back was turned to make it back to the common room before her. He couldn't let her know that he was desperate for company.


	4. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: First Names

Three weeks into November was a scheduled Hogsmeade trip. Hermione got up and intended to go with her friends there. As she walked she could feel Draco's eyes on her. It was an odd feeling and she wished he would stop looking at her tattoo.

Draco wasn't going to Hogsmeade as he now had no one to go with. When Hermione returned from Hogsmeade she ran to her room to hide everything so her friends wouldn't see their Christmas presents. Returning downstairs, Draco looked up. "This came for you." He informed, holding up an envelope.

"Thank you." She said, walking towards him. Draco took a step away. "Come on, Malfoy. Give it to me." She repeated, walking still closer. Again he walked away, letters in hand. Hermione then realized what was happening. Draco was going to start a game of keep-away. "Come on, Malfoy. Don't start playing games like that!" That triggered it. He ran.

They circled around the room, Hermione frantically trying to grab her letter. Draco started laughing. "It's no funny!" she yelled but when she saw the way they looked, when running past the mirror (the bathroom door was open) she couldn't help but laugh too.

Hermione went to grab Draco but he dodged her lunge and stayed out of her grasp. Realizing she wouldn't catch him, Hermione tried the last thing available. Diving forward, she grabbed the hem of his robe, pulling him to the ground. When he went to roll over she rushed for the letter. Right before she could grab it she felt a tugging on the hem of _her_ robes and felt a weight come crashing down on her shoulders, causing her arms to drop. "Wow, Granger. I didn't know you would go so low." He was, of course, lying because he was doing this as part of his plan.

Gripping her arms behind her back he eased some of his weight off her, making sure she was still pinned. She wriggled for a few minutes, and gave up, panting. "Let me up." She choked.

"One condition." Malfoy almost sang.

"What!" Hermione grew angrier, wanting her letter.

"Call me by my first name." he demanded.

"Alright! Alright! Mal---Draco." Smiling, he stood up. Hermione scrambled to grab her letter and ran up to her room. Sighing he sat down in one of the arm chairs. He had done it. She was really pissed off but they were on first name terms.

In her room, Hermione opened her letter.

_Dear Hermione,_

_We are sorry to inform you that we can't have you over the Burrow for Christmas this year. We would have asked Ron to tell you and Harry but we knew he was likely to forget. Arthur and I are going to spend the holidays in Romania with Charlie. Percy's not coming, he's staying home so he can still go to work but we don't expect you three and Ginny would like to come and spend time with him for your time off. Have the best of holidays,_

_Molly & Arthur Weasley_

_p.s. Investigate any gifts the twins send to all of you. Apparently they're coming up with a new product._

Hermione smiled. It would be upsetting not to go to the Burrow but they could still have plenty of fun at Hogwarts. She couldn't help but wonder what the twins were going to send them all and what's going to happen when they try their little 'innocent gifts' out.

"Er…_Draco,_" she still had a slight bit of trouble getting her mouth around the word, "why did you have to sit on me before?" she felt a bit uncomfortable, as if she was asking a six-year-old an important question.

"I had to find a way to get you to call me by my first name." he responded, sounding as casual as sitting on someone was more common than shaking their hand.

"You could have just asked me!" Sometimes he really confused her. Draco turned pink and looked away. Clearly he didn't like showing emotion that much, especially embarrassment.

"Well then, can I call you Hermione?" he implored.

"Yes, and thank you for not sitting on me this time." She walked back to her room while Draco just sat there and felt like an idiot for not trying something simple the first time.


	5. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Christmas Morning

About a week before Christmas, Hermione and Draco started to decorate their room and common room for Christmas. Together they walked about for an hour, casting up magical banners that moved and having ornaments hover in the air. By the time they were finished, the room looked spectacular. _Wow, _they thought, as the two backed into the center to admire their work. "Whoops! Sorry, Draco!" Hermione squeaked when the two backed into each other.

"I must say we make a good team Hermione." Draco approved, overlooking the decorations they had put up. He looked into her eyes. _How beautiful she looks, _Draco admired. _No! _he silently scolded himself, he couldn't be falling for a muggle-born. _Muggle-born? It's a good thing my father's dead and can't hear me._ He reminded himself. _It's just a silly thing, she's been nice to me and she just caught the light a certain way, that's all._ Draco convinced himself. _It will pass, _he consoled to himself.

"Ten o'clock!" Hermione said surprised, "I've got to get to bed!"

"Good night Hermione."

"G'night Draco." She replied, rushing upstairs.

Soon after, Draco went to his own bedroom, intending that his little instance of fancying Hermione would pass and he would sleep peacefully. When he crawled into bed and no longer had something to busy himself with, his thoughts came racing back to him. He thought of all of the experiences they had had as Heads and realized, to his horror, that he _did_ love her.

For the next week, all he could think about was whether or not to tell her. _It could make our whole friendship come crashing down, _he explained to himself, _everything I've done to try and be civil would go to waste. Plus, I would be alone entirely and know I couldn't even hear her sweet voice anymore._

Draco spent the whole week barely talking, pacing through the common room. He watched her sometimes, and she would look up and smile at him. He didn't want to risk her trust and her new forgiving to him. He had no clue what to do! Day after day he racked his brain for an idea and Hermione began to get nervous about his behavior. Every night she would close her book and come out of her chair towards him and worriedly whisper, "Draco, do you want to go to the Hospital Wing? Is there anything I can do to help?"

He wished he could tell her the truth and even more wished she would respond positively. But he couldn't. All he did each time was put his face in his hands and mutter something about a headache. She would glance over him, obviously knowing he was lying, but would respect his decision not to tell her and walk away.

On Christmas morning Hermione woke up to a pile of presents on the floor that mounted over the edge of her bed. She felt a soft weight hit her as Crookshanks landed on her stomach and walked up to her pillow. Crookshanks curled up next to her and began to swish his tail and wiggle his whiskers as he licked her cheek. She smiled and scratched the top of his head before knocking on Draco's door. Opening it, she was surprised to see his hand up, about to knock on hers. "Oh, Happy Christmas Draco." She greeted. Hiding the gift in her hands behind her back she peered cautiously into his room. Sitting at the base of his bed was a present. _A. _Guiltily, she blocked him from coming into her room. Draco guessed why. He knew that she had at least twenty people send her a Christmas gift. "Uh, Draco, could you meet me in the common room in twenty minutes then?" Hermione cautiously mustered.

"Yeah, sure. See you there Hermione." He was grateful she was at least caring about hurting his feelings. _Then again, she cares about everyone's feelings,_ Draco reminded himself, he mustn't let himself get carried away and think they're falling in love. However, he wished this relationship were on a two-way street.

Going back to her bed, Hermione sat at the foot to begin unwrapping her presents. From the Weasleys she got the usual sweater, this time a lovely deep purple in color. Also from the Weasleys she received a two-pound block of fudge and a dragon scale. Smiling, she noted it was from a Chinese Fireball, although she wondered how they would get that in Romania, and guessed they would send Harry one of a Horntail's scale. They knew he would find it a joke. She didn't open either of the gifts from Fred & George. Instead she set them aside. Lord knows what was in them. Harry had sent her a small collection of books from two muggle authors, Charles Dickens and Emily Dickinson. _Strange choice, _she mentioned to herself. Opening Ron's present she had gotten a pair of earrings in the shape of an H. _At least he tries, _she sighed. Deciding to leave the rest of the presents, she ran down the stairs.

Downstairs, Draco was sitting in an armchair facing the fire. Although it was merely nine in the morning, it could get awfully cold without a fire. "Happy Christmas, Hermione." He welcomed, getting up to face her. Hiding the gift behind her back, she walked a little closer before pretending to trip onto the couch.

Pulling her legs up so she sat in an indian position she called out, "Heads up Draco." He extended his hand just in time to catch the wrapped box that flew through the air. Grinning broadly, he levitated his own present in her direction. Without taking his eyes off her, he sat in one of the close by chairs. He opened it and saw a pair of robes folded, deep emerald with a sparkling silver lining. Running his hand down the seams, he realized how magnificent it was. They were obviously custom made and there was a symbol of two snakes, sewn on in the design of a capital DM. Draco turned his attention to the card. _Merry Christmas Draco! _It read, _You are being a great roommate. I hope you like your new Quidditch robes but don't expect them to improve your game! Your Friend, Hermione Granger._

He looked up at her, she hadn't touched her presents, clearly wanting to see the look on his face when he opened his. "Thanks Hermione, but I think Slytherin will win now." Smiling mischievously, she began to unroll her gift. Her expression didn't show it but Draco knew she was only thinking '_I doubt it.'_ Slowly Hermione unrolled the wrapping paper on the box Draco had given her. It was a medium-sized rectangular box. It was long and rather thin with a small note taped on the top. All it said was, _Merry Christmas Hermione! Your friend, Draco Malfoy._ Inside was a golden necklace. It was in the shape of a heart with a diamond on imbedded into the middle and was a locket. When opened, it had a panel in the center that allowed you to put in four pictures instead of two. To add to the thoughtfulness, you could put a recording of the person (or persons) voice who were in the picture into the locket so you could hear them when you look at their picture.

There were many emotions that Draco was sure would be one she would get from looking at it, but sadness was certainly not one of them. He was confused. "What's wrong?" he asked, completely clueless, the grin washing off his face.

"Draco, I can't accept this. It's much too luxurious and I don't deserve this."

It took him everything not to break down and tell her it was because he loved her that he gave it to her. "Is that all? Of course you deserve it! You were the only person to talk to me in almost five months. Besides, these robes are extravagant." He left out the part that he hoped his picture may, at least one day, get into the locket.

A shy smile crept onto her face. She jumped up with surprising speed for having her legs folded underneath her body. Noticing that the speed could only lead to something wrong, Draco sped over in front of Hermione, just in time to catch her. Instead of standing she stayed sitting on the ground for a minute, as if pondering something strange. However, she quickly bounced up when he was about to bend over to help her and gave him an immense hug. "Thank you _so_ much Draco!" For a mere moment he felt very peaceful, he took in the flowery scent, then Hermione stepped away from him. He knew in his heart that it was a hug meant for one friend to the other but pretended to himself that it was more. "Could you put it on for me?" Turning to face him, she held up the necklace.

"Certainly, just turn around." He lowered it over the top of her head and pulled his hands behind her neck. She shook her beautiful honey hair away so he could let it drop down on the back of her neck.

She smiled at him again and without a word went back to her room. Taking his chance to get out of the room for once, Crookshanks flew down the stairs and began to examine what the his new common room looked like. Laughing, Draco left the cat to its business and went to his own room. He was going back to sleep. He didn't care that the only present there was from Dumbledore, and that it was only a card with a brilliant scarlet tie inside it. He knew that it was a sympathy gift anyway. What he cared about was that Hermione liked his gift and clearly went out of her way to pick one out for him that was considerate.

In her room, Hermione once again began to open her presents. She was confused about what to make out of the present Draco had given her. It was terribly obvious how expensive it was and it was incredibly caring. At least the gift she had given him had seemed to exceed his expectations, but then he probably didn't expect a gift at all. She felt so rude not giving him a gift of the same quality. He seemed happy with it though, so she pushed the matter out of her head.

Ginny Weasley had given her a new pair of earrings which, unlike her brother's peculiar choice, were very nice. They were chandelier earrings, a marvelous gold in color with scarlet fixings on it. Again, she passed over the presents from the twin's and went to get the one she had gotten from Hagrid. She carefully placed aside the cakes he had sent her, wanting to still have teeth to eat her Christmas dinner, but was surprised to see that the other package was moving slightly. Knowing there was a various assortment of things that could survive in a package bewitched to suit their living conditions; she used magic to open it from a small distance. When no monstrous creature climbed out, she inched closer. Still it moved until it finally toppled over from the little creature's weight. Of all the frightening things that had been possible to be in there, what crawled out was an adorable little kitten.

It was black with little white paws and a white dot on the top of its head. Hermione was thankful Hagrid had correctly performed the spell to keep the kitten comfortable in the box and decided to name it, as might be expected, Midnight Moon. Her parents had also sent her a gift via owl but it was a muggle gift, as was Harry's. Inside it she found a few small pieces of jewelry but her favorite gift was a leather-cover day planner for the entire year. It was big enough to include all of her assignments, even if she used a shrinking spell to shrink it down to a pocket-size. Hermione leaned back on her pillows and began to stroke both Crookshanks and Midnight Moon, not wanting to wait for the Holiday Ball that evening.


	6. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: New Year's Eve

When Draco awoke the next morning he found himself still leaning over the edge of Hermione's bed. Drowsily he lifted his head, expecting to see her sleeping with her head poking out from under the quilt. However, there was no one laying in it. Quickly he lifted his head in fear; before he heard a friendly voice behind him, laughing.

Turning, he noticed the wall was taken down. The shock of the sudden change took a moment to sink in but he regained himself speedily. "Hermione!" he scolded. Carefully he read her face. It was definite she was better but still incredibly weak. Power had been drained from her due to the force of the spell.

Hermione took a step towards him and shook ever so slightly with the effort. _At least she's not stumbling like last night, _Draco observed. He tried to disguise his concern with aggravation but something told him she would see through it no matter how hard he tried. His stubborn arrogance drove him to do it anyway.

"You shouldn't be out of bed, you're sick!" he yelled. Knowing full well it would piss her off, he scooped her up and began to carry her to her bed. Hermione didn't bother to fight, she knew in this state she didn't stand a chance.

When she lay on the bed, Hermione began to mull over her thoughts. _Why has Draco been so concerned about this? I'm just getting worked up over A love letter. Even Harry and Ron would take me to the Hospital Wing instead of playing the nurse like Draco is. _Finally she decided to just ask him. "Draco!" Hermione called

The door burst open as he rushed in and ran over to her. "Hermione, what's wrong? Are you all right?"

Again with the concern. "I'm fine, Draco," she tried to assure without success, "I just wanted to ask you something."

He sighed. He had just been in the common room wondering why she would react in such a way to his letter. "Come on, you've got to rest if you want to stay up tonight." With that he pulled her quilt up to the bottom of her chin. _Tonight? New Year's! _She remembered suddenly. The news caught her by surprise and she momentarily forgot her question.

"Hey! You still haven't answered my question!" Draco looked at her for a minute but she didn't wait for his permission. "Why do you care for so much?"

Draco swallowed uncomfortably and shifted uneasily before looking her full in the eyes. "Because this is how my father killed my mother." Hermione was taken aback and gave Draco the opportunity he needed to slip out of the door.

_Poor Draco, _Hermione sympathized. _He must feel so bad. To watch your mother die of it and then have your only ---- no, a good friend begin to die of it. _Now she knew she was lying. She knew because of the fact no one talked to him that he had no school friends and he never got mail.

Fighting roughly with herself, Hermione dismissed the thoughts and obediently went to sleep.

Later, Hermione woke up to a familiar and friendly voice. "Hermione." It squeaked. "Hermione must be waking up." The voice pleaded.

Still more asleep than awake, she rolled over to her other side, muttering, "Go away, Draco," as she did so.

Groggily, she propped herself up on her elbows. When her eyes had focused, she yelled out, "Dobby!"

"Dobby, it's been so long since I've seen you! I missed you." Dobby grinned as she spoke.

"Miss must be waking up for the party and Dobby has been invited!"

Hermione smiled as she collected her thoughts. "That's great Dobby, glad you were allowed to stay!"

He looked at the door, hinting they had to go quickly. "There is one more thing miss. A letter was dropped by a school owl in the common room for you." Hermione said good-bye to Dobby and then tossed the letter on her dresser. _It can wait till after the party, _she thought to herself as she pulled closed the curtains on her four-poster to change.

Hermione emerged a few minutes later, dressed in festive attire. Her hair wasn't done up any special way but she had on a semi-shimmering top with a matching skirt. Both were pink but the top was darker in color then the skirt, almost red. The skirt was billowing and reached her knees, swirling as she walked.

Draco was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs to their bedroom. "Good evening, my you look …. sparkly." He complimented, not sure what word to use. I thought you might want to help put up decorations, you enjoyed doing so a lot at Christmas." Hermione felt delighted, she loved organizing things and to her decorating fell under the same category.

Smiling, Hermione merely said "Let's get started." The two worked together to add a very celebratory effect to the room, with lots of sparkles as an effect. At eight o'clock, the couples began to arrive. Draco stayed in the corner of the room, doing his best not to sulk while Hermione greeted all her friends.

All of the other guests, the girls at least, had glitter on their outfits. New Year's is a very sparkly holiday. Everybody was just making general small talk with each other when the two couples everyone was awaiting to see arrived. "Hey, I thought this was supposed to be a party!" bellowed George.

"Come on, let's spice this up!" Fred hollered. Angelina and Katie just giggled as they strode away from their boyfriends. "Hello Hermione," they both greeted her and gave her a small hug. "Congratulations on making Head Girl." They praised while walking off to greet their other younger friends.

"Hermione," Fred began, "if I'm not very much mistaken, Heads are allowed out of their dorms at any time, aren't they?"

Hermione debated whether or not she should answer that. _He'll probably magic it out of me if I don't, better to go with honesty._ "Yes…" she tentatively answered.

"Then, how 'bout we all get out of this stuffy little room and have our party up on the roof." Everyone knew it wasn't a question but they all shouted, somehow including Hermione, 'All right!' Quickly they all filed out of the common room and headed towards the castle roof.

On the roof, Fred cast a spell for music to drift around them and everyone got up to dance. Luckily enough, the dances were pretty fast and more of party ones than romantic or slow ones, nobody truly danced with partners in particular as couples. Some of the girls even danced with each other for a while and had fun; the boys muttered excuses about being tired or couldn't dance well to avoid being called immature by their girlfriends about not dancing with each other.

By now it was nearing midnight, only about a half hour left to go. Draco knew Hermione was the only one here who wouldn't scowl at him for talking so he slowly drifted off to the side and sat about ten feet away from them, quietly lost in his own thoughts (of Hermione). Hermione, noticing his depressed behavior on this holiday, went over to talk to him. "Hi Draco, what's up?" she inquired, trying to hide her concern.

He just mused absentmindedly for a few seconds before answering. "Oh nothing." She felt a strange feeling, like he didn't want to talk but he still wanted her there. Hermione began to feel awkward, from both the slowing-down music and the suddenly overwhelming fact that every guest here was with a date but here and Draco. Silently, to try to make it seem less frightening, she began to slowly count the people there. _Harry and Ginny, Ron and Lavender, Neville and who's-that-girl-from-Ginny's-grade, Fred and Angelina, George and Katie; Oh God, even Dobby has Winky with him! I have never felt more awkward in my life._

"Come on," she persuaded, "you forced me to be healthy so I'm going to force you to be happy." She fought, just to chase away the tense feeling between her and Draco. Putting her hands down, she looked at the side of his face as he stared up at the stars.

"It's nothing," he muttered and as he did so he put his hand down on top of hers. Both of them slid their hands away embarrassed, Hermione turned to glance at the others who were swirling around each other and smiling gently at one another. She decided to drop it and silently watched the beautiful full moon while she sat with Draco.

At ten of midnight, the songs suddenly sped up again and reached an all time speed. Someone yelled towards them "Come on, there's no such thing as a party without a conga line!" The forceful beats came out drumming from the song Conga: _Let the music move your feet, come on shake your body, baby, do that conga, no you can't control yourself any longer…_

The two jumped up and got on the line as they all paraded around the roof. Everyone had a great time, even Draco doing the conga. They would dance a few feet and then kick out and repeat that over until exactly one minute to midnight. "Everyone, it's almost time to start the countdown!" yelled Harry.

"10, 9, 8…." The group chanted as a whole. The party got into a competition with the school bell that was ticking its way to striking twelve. As the whole thing went on, Draco argued with himself. _It is a tradition, what if I only do it on the cheek? She won't mind… It's the New Year tradition, everyone else will be doing it. She'll feel more awkward if I don't…_Finally the part of him with the crush (the larger and more powerful side) won.

Echoing through the halls and out across the ground was the one word that everyone had just screamed, the residents of Hogsmeade, the party on the roof, the teachers, the students and the clanging bell as they all screamed "MIDNIGHT!" Out of the corner of his eye, Draco saw every couple kiss each other on the lips. Quickly he turned to face Hermione. He bent over slightly and kissed her gently on her cheek.


	7. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The Second Letter

Draco fought the urge to blush as Hermione did. Both luckily, for now she wasn't cross with him, and unluckily, for she didn't like him more for it, for him she merely blushed and looked away. Nobody else on the roof noticed and the party just continued on, with many people now avoiding the food from fear of what the Weasley twins were doing while they were near the buffet table.

_Draco kissed me! _Hermione excitedly squealed to herself. _I can't believe it! I don't know why I'm so excited. It gave me a strange and warm feeling, like the kind I got when I read the love letter from my secret admirer! And now I have a strange feeling in my gut, like it is full of butterflies or something._

Hermione, despite the energy it took to party through the night, jumped energetically on her bed, startling the napping Midnight Moon and Crookshanks. She heard Draco coming wearily up the stairs. "Hi Draco," she greeted and giggled as he made the long walk to the other side of the room. Inside she still felt slightly embarrassed even though it was only a kiss on the cheek. Tiredly, he just gave her a rather small smile as if his muscles were too tired to lift his face.

Turning to the wall, Hermione strode over to her desk and noticed the letter was still sitting there. She had forgotten about it completely! Rushing over she picked it up and recognized the unique seal on the back. It had completely passed over her last time for she was much too intrigued in thinking of the letter to examine it. Now that she looked at it carefully the memory came flooding back of how quickly she had ripped it open. It was truly lovely though, with a deep red color for the wax and impressed in the center of the wax was the pattern of a single rose. It didn't include the actual stem but the flower was beautiful and open as if full of life.

"What do you have there?" A voice behind Hermione startled her. The voice merely laughed and waited for a reply.

Hermione said back, "Stop it, Draco….It's personal."

He took this as an opportunity to taunt, he needed to know how she was reacting to his letters. Whether or not she was falling in love with her 'secret admirer'. "_Oooh, _a _love _letter. Let me see!" he leaned over to snatch at it and she pulled it to her body and curled up so he couldn't get to it. Try as he might, he couldn't pry her arms open enough to reach the letter.

"Stop it!" she giggled as he began to tickle her to make her let go. "Draco, I said stop!"

"Fine, I don't want to read about your gushy love-life anyway." He said while wishing that one day he _would _be her gushy love-life.

Although quite childish, Hermione could think of nothing else to do to Draco, she only uncurled her head, keeping the rest of her body tight, and stuck her tongue out. When she crossed over to the window she could barely hear is small laugh and the coughing noise his old mattress made as he collapsed onto it.

She didn't know why but she laughed, suppressing it enough that it sounded more like a sigh that only she could hear. Quietly so as not to wake him, she pulled an armchair up under the large window and curled her feet up to her chest. Then silently she opened the letter and began to read by the pale shafts of light that were beginning to shine through the window and dance upon the floor.

_My Dearest Hermione, _It read,

_I was in such a state to hear you were sick. I missed seeing you. I feel so horribly at the very thought that it was my first letter that brought that on to you. This is maddening! No matter what I think I cannot say what I feel without harming you. I also will never be able to act what I feel for should you ever meet me I would be sorely rejected. Or is Pedro right about his quote "If love is not madness, it is not love." If he is, I shall say that without any doubt I am completely and entirely in love with you and I have no other way to turn but that the hope I will someday reach you. I dearly hope that one day you would love me back as strongly as I do you but I am afraid that I must always hide in the shadows. We would never do for one another. All I can pray for is that one day you might see me._

_Your Secret Admirer_

_p.s. Always remember the quote that will always bind me to you, if not you to me by Rosemonde Gerard "For you see, each day I love you more. Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow."_

With that the letter was ended and again it had no trace of how to figure out the way to get back to who ever sent it to her. Hermione sighed and pulled the letter close to her. Without any knowledge why she began to cry and just curled up tightly in the large armchair whispering to herself, then choking it out between tears, "Why?"


	8. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Valentine's Day

Hermione woke up in a strangely happy mood and hugged her cats to her with a smile. "You know what day it is?" she whispered to them as they angrily pulled away from her for waking them up. "It's Valentine's Day!" She was confident that today she would find out who her secret admirer was. Everyone at school would be going on dates and talking about love --- and others would be revealing it.

Across the room, Hermione barely heard it due to the distance between the beds, a low groan escaped Draco's lips. With a banishing charm, she picked up one of her pillows and flung it at his face. He jumped up and looked around wildly before laughing. "Not funny!" he yelled, then erupted in laughter with her.

Hermione jumped happily out of her bed and ran to the bathroom. She got ready in a hurry, hoping to get to the Great Hall and talk to Ginny and Luna before they began to get into the mushy talks with their boyfriends.

Draco smiled as he watched Hermione bustle around the large room. She seemed to do everything in perfection routine, never doing something wrong. Before ten minutes had gone by she yelled 'good-bye' and was out the door.

He took his time getting dressed. He was fully aware what day it was also. And was in mixed feelings of dread and joyful anticipation. On one hand he _really _wanted to tell her who he was, on the other he was horrified that she would find out it was him and reject him. Both as a boyfriend and as a friend. Everything was at stake.

So he skipped breakfast and strode over to his desk to write a letter to Hermione. His last letter.

Twenty minutes later Draco reread his letter again just to make sure it sounded perfect.

_My Dearest Hermione,_

_I'm sure your well aware of the date, as am I. I have told you time and again that I love you very dearly. If only you could understand, there are no words to describe my love for you. You are the reason I live. And so I make this letter short, despite the time it has taken me to word this. Will you please meet me tonight? In the astronomy tower? I know it's a bit … off for you, disobeying the rules but most teachers said that there won't be a curfew for the seventh years tonight. It is…after all Friday and Valentine's Day. I will be waiting at ten a.m. and will be there until the first light of morning, constantly waiting for you. Please be there, I beg of you with all my heart._

_Love, _

_Your soon-not-to-be-so-secret Secret Admirer_

He branded it as good enough to send and pulled out the gold wax he had hidden. Carefully he began to pour on the seal.

Classes went by without much work. Many teachers gave up trying to make teenagers with raging hormones pay attention on Valentine's Day. Only Snape and McGonagall, as usual, kept the class at work. The only two classes Draco had with Hermione, which for once he was thankful for. Now he wouldn't start to stare at her.

At lunch hour most students just grabbed a quick snack and ran back up to their dormitories. Many boys would anxiously try to distract their friends from their awkward feelings of trying to tell girl how they felt and ask a girl out for the Hogsmeade weekend tomorrow. All of the girls ran and giggled excitedly as they all talked about the boys they liked and goofed off together. Of course, all of the couples went to the common room and were snogging because they knew that they would go to Hogsmeade together anyway.

Hermione ran up to the dormitory she shared with Draco. Ginny and Luna were with her and they were moving much too slow for Hermione's taste. Abandoning the rules for once, she was holding both of them by their wrists and running as fast as she could down the corridors. She was fully aware that she had no proof whatsoever of whether or not there would be a letter but she knew in her heart that there was one there, waiting for her.

The three girls ran through the common room throwing a quick wave to Draco, who was resting on the couch. Obviously something was bothering him but for once Hermione couldn't be bothered to help someone else, even a friend. For once in her life, she was coming first.

"Ooh…It's so pretty. The gold wax is so romantic! And the rose!" Luna exclaimed when she saw it there. Hermione dropped their wrists and ran at the bed. Perched on the headpiece to her bed was an owl. A school one again, but in it's beak was the letter from her secret admirer. She would never forget that seal.

She felt guilty later for the fright she must have given the owl and Crookshanks & Midnight Moon but she was so engrossed in trying to get the letter that it never occurred to her that it would terrify them to see a human come charging at and then jump on the bed they were all sitting on.

Ginny and Luna read it over her shoulder. She felt Ginny squeeze her shoulder and whisper to her "Hermione, that's great! He's going to meet you now! You're going to be the perfect couple!"

Hermione didn't hear any of it. She was too excited. Too shocked. Too happy. "I'm going to meet him," she whispered to herself, "tonight."

The girls all went crashing down the stairs as the lunch bell rang. On their way out Hermione first noticed Draco. "Draco are you alright? You look sick. Do you want me to take you to the Hospital Wing?"

He rolled over to look at her. She was _so _beautiful. "I'm fine, just a bit of a headache. I'll just lay down for a while."

She smiled warmly at her and he felt as if heaven was trying to invite him in at that moment. "Okay, see you later." She muttered and ran off.

The clocks ticked as Draco anxiously waited for Hermione to come to him. He was nervous and it was taking him everything not to run for his life. Meanwhile, Hermione ran through the corridors desperately trying to reach the astronomy tower. She couldn't wait to meet her Prince.

At ten the first bell rang and it sent out one, two, three, four then five rings. On the sixth ring Draco saw the door open a crack and close as a girl, the most beautiful girl in the world to him, slipped inside and looked around confused.

"Hello?" Hermione whispered into the darkness. All around her she could only see shadows. And then something moved. "Are you…?" she began but faltered, no longer able to find her voice.

"Yes." Was the small answer they gave. Their voice sounded oddly familiar but she knew almost everyone at Hogwarts (in their year) so that wasn't much help. "Hermione I love you and I…this is hard for me but…" she heard the mystery boy take a deep breath as if he was preparing himself for the hardest task on earth. And then he stepped forward into the moonlight.


	9. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Being Civil….Enough

Hermione did return to the Heads dormitory but for a whole week Draco and Hermione never even looked at one another, not a single glance. Or so Hermione thought. She tried to hide the pain by drowning herself in work and hanging out with Gryffindors. Draco, however, stole glances at her whenever he could and hoped she would return but knew she never would. She hated him now.

After two whole unbearable weeks had gone by, Draco and Hermione were both sitting in the common room doing their essays. Silently Draco stole a glimpse at Hermione and she looked up just as he was putting his head down and returned with a stony glare. Hermione was so upset from what she believed was a prank that she felt hatred pulsing through her veins, she despised Draco more than she ever had. He had reached an all-time low. Sometimes, when she felt lonely from times when her and Draco used to talk (which she didn't realize that was what she missed) she would reach her hand toward her neck to fiddle with the locket she always wore before realizing it was probably somewhere in a Hogwarts trash can by now.

Draco pretended to not realize she existed. He wouldn't bother her in the least but if he uttered any word near her she would get upset so he just left her be. He just assumed he was destined to live forever in misery, and watch her grow happy from a distance, living a life without him.

Before Draco knew it or Hermione herself something went off in her and she was on her feet screaming at him. "How dare you! Why couldn't you just leave me be? I would have loved to just be your friend and you had to lead me on like that thinking I could really have something special with someone and then find out it was a stupid prank from you!"

For a second she stopped to take a breath and Draco talked despite how the look in her eyes stabbed daggers in his chest. "It wasn't a prank Hermione! I love you, I've loved you since the beginning of the year, possibly longer and I was so stupid I couldn't figure it out until the Holiday Ball! Why can't you believe me? You were the only one who showed an ounce of kindness to me after what my father forced me to do, how could I possibly do that to you?" Here Draco stopped too and felt like sobbing but restrained himself.

Hermione stood there looking appaled and the next words she uttered were barely a whisper, Draco had to strain his ears to hear it. "How could you? Do you ever stop?" and then she ran to her room and didn't come back out.

Poor Draco was left alone the next week with no one to talk to, no one to comfort him in the world. Hermione, however, was lucky and went to see Ginny and Luna.

Ginny sat in thought for several minutes. "Hermione, I know you'll think I'm crazy but what if he ever really did like you?"

Hermione looked up at Ginny and gave her a look of disbelief. "You're not serious, are you Ginny? Think of what he did!"

Luna piped up then. "I agree with Ginny maybe we should look further into this, he could really love you. Think of what you're doing to that poor guy!"

Hermione lay back in her arm chair and thought. "You're right," she admitted, "let's start looking at all the evidence we have from September."

Ginny grabbed a notepad and a quill and started to make a pros and cons list as Hermione rattled off what Draco had been doing the past few months. When they finished it looked like this:

Pros:  
• Hasn't been nasty  
• Bought the locket  
• Was polite  
• Donated money for party  
• Took care of her when she was sick  
• Seemed sincere

Cons:  
• it was all a prank?

Hermione looked over the list with Ginny and Luna anxiously looking over her shoulder. "This list doesn't mean anything! We couldn't figure out a thing from this. It's too useless."

"Well," Ginny began, "maybe when you're in love you have to measure emotion and not action."

"Exactly why Hermione now has to tell us a new version of this list," Luna ordered.

This time, Hermione poured out her heart. "First he was so kind I thought he was almost human and then he became one of my friends. We started to talk a lot and hang out so he was like you guys to me. Then I felt like the happiest girl in the world because someone loved me too! It may have made me depressed for a while from not being able to know who it was and Draco took care of me. I wanted to go to the hospital wing but he seemed so…upset about it and when I asked him why he said 'that's how my father killed my mother'. He kissed me on New Year's and I know it's tradition, I thought he was being friendly and then the other letters and how he …. He didn't start mocking me when I walked in the door to find out who my 'secret admirer' is I just…" with this Hermione started sobbing. "Why does he have to be such a jerk?"

Luna bent over Hermione and comfortingly rubbed her back while whispering to her that it was fine and everything would be all right. Ginny lay back and thought, contemplating the whole situation. "Hermione," she muttered, "I've come to a conclusion and here is my major piece of evidence." Hermione looked up, curious. "If I'm correct Draco's mother died of a depression, according to what was the MAIN cause of it. But how did she fall into it? She fell into a depression because Lucius Malfoy died and she felt lost without her loved one. Draco must've felt like he was his father when he said 'this is how my father killed my mother'. His mother died of a broken heart Hermione, and he was afraid you were getting sick because of one too."

They were respectfully silent as Hermione absorbed yet another shock. Slowly, she let the words come out. "Oh my, what have I done? Draco truly is in love with me."


	10. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Love at last?

Hermione walked slowly back to the Heads' dormitory. She couldn't believe all that was riding on her mind now. On one hand, Draco was in love with her. Was. She had no way of telling if he still loved her now. She had no clue how to apologize to him then. On the other hand, they could be wrong and it was a hoax and she wouldn't know how to console herself then.

With a sigh she opened the door and fate was not with her. She didn't even have a moment to think of something to say because she walked in and the first thing that she heard was someone yelling "OW!" before she heard a body fall to the floor.

All of Hermione's feelings were forgotten as she watched Draco fall to the floor, clutching his hands to his face. "Draco! Draco, relax!" she screamed. Draco rolled on the common room floor, roughly rocking on his sides as blood poured from his nose. Hermione was terrified and Draco was focusing entirely on the pain. She had swung the door open with such force that Draco, who had been standing right beside it, had his nose broken.

A house-elf had heard the screaming and came running to help Hermione as she rushed him to the Hospital Wing.

"Now, that's fine, I'll have him cleaned up in a jiffy," Madam Pomfrey promptly told Hermione and merely cast a simple spell and Draco's face healed. Despite how much she meant to apologize, Hermione stayed silent with shock and embarrassment weighing on her shoulders.

As the two walked back together both wanted badly to talk but Hermione stayed silent and Draco did too.

When Hermione finally spoke, she only muttered "I'm sorry," She wasn't sure if it was for braking his nose or for how she let her surprise and doubt overpower her reason and neither was Draco. For the rest of the night they both stayed in their own quarters and not one of them uttered a word to the other.

For the next few weeks neither spoke to the other. They both were dying to but were too stubborn, annoyed, upset, scared or …in love? to do so, both were waiting for the other to speak first.

As those weeks went by, other students had much less on their minds than the two. Or to them, it was much more. The Graduation Ball. It was open only to the Seventh Years and their dates, although Seventh Years were the only ones with no curfew. Needless to say, to the whole grade, especially the girls, it was the biggest occasion of the year.

The night everyone, or it seemed everyone, was waiting for had finally arrived. The dance, Dumbledore had announced was (of course) formal but instead of having to dress in robes the students had a choice of muggle clothing or the traditional dress robes.

Hermione was in her room preparing already in the dress she had taken a Saturday off to go buy with her mother. The dress was long and slightly billowy but still did not poof out. The bodice of the dress was rather tight but amazingly comfortable and did reveal a bit of cleavage. Despite the low cut, Hermione loved the dress and it truly looked amazing on her. The straps were light and cool to the touch but did not bridge over her shoulders, instead the rested tiredly on the sides of her arms. Although the top was tight, the skirt had crinkles in it like a broomstick skirt. The entire dress was pink, save the deep red that made the straps and the small ribbon of fabric that separated the bodice from the skirt.

For the first time since the Yule Ball she had attended with Krum, she had her hair done up in that style. (A/N I don't know what it's called) Oddly enough, she chose not to wear earrings but decided instead to wear only a necklace as jewelry. She reached across her desktop to pick up the necklace she had from Draco, but dropped her hand in despair as she remembered she had thrown it on the ground in fury, heard it shatter as she ran. Maybe it was best not to wear any jewelry.

Finished, she walked through the common room, looking finer than a princess. She didn't look at Draco but out of the corner of her eye she saw him sitting on one of the couches, reading. He hadn't asked her to go to the dance and it seemed he was not going at all. As there were no chaperones, there was no need for the Heads to be there. She felt the tears welling up behind her eyes and she rushed for the door. As she hurried, she did not notice him look up at her with a forlorn face and get up to head for his room. When she turned around as the door closed, Draco was gone.

An hour later, Hermione sat on a bench in the Great Hall watching her friends dance. Many people came up and said hello before giggling off with their dates to dance but all she could do was forge a smile. _How?_, she thought,_ How could he? Why didn't he just ask me to go with him? Why does it MATTER? He's the one in love with me. Just because he loves me doesn't mean I have to return the feeling. It doesn't even mean we have to get along. Right? Why is this so complicated? It doesn't matter. He loves me. Loved me. I DON'T love him._ Suddenly the pressure of the entire year caught up to her. Tears flowed from her eyes and she was about to cry. Without caring who saw she ran, through the doors, through the halls, through the entrance and into the garden and collapsed. Not even having the power to pull herself up onto a bench she just lay there with her arms laying almost dead on the rock, herself sobbing into her arms.

The tears blinded her so that she might not see the person helping her. The young man handed her a handkerchief to dab her eyes and when she stopped crying he paused a moment before asking, "May I have this dance?" The music was very faint but still drifted out onto the grounds and Hermione decided that she at least owed the gentleman a dance for helping her. Besides, dancing was a favorite of hers. It took her mind off of everything that went wrong in her life…


	11. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Together

Delicately she placed one hand on his shoulder and the other in his hand and felt his left hand rest on her waist. She laid her head on his shoulder and let the tears gradually slow, although they still slipped out of her eyes. Hermione had, being a perfectionist, noticed that his robes were an emerald green, not exactly the color everyone wears with pink. After a few moments she whispered in his ear. "You know, Draco, we don't match at all."

She wasn't sure but she thought she felt him smile next to her. She pulled her left hand from his grasp and put it behind his neck to lock her two hands together. Silently, she felt him move his hands together in the small of her back. Both felt no discomfort as the song 'Almost Paradise' came on. "You're completely wrong. Opposites attract." He whispered back and with that he pulled his head away from her shoulder and kissed her before putting his head back down.

Tears began pouring from her eyes again but they were no longer tears of sorrow for she had finally realized what she had been chasing after. She was in love with him and because she was in love she didn't want to have to deal with all the pressures of it. But now she realized it was worth it, as long as he was beside her. But neither of them spoke those words because they both understood that they went unspoken and Hermione kissed him back.

Together they danced for the rest of the night, two people so madly in love that few others could ever understand. Although they had started out dancing early in the evening they did not stop their dancing, slow or fast, for as long as they could possible. At one point, Hermione said her feet were so blistered that she pulled off her shoes and threw them across the lawn so they danced across the dewy grass barefoot.

Late that night they walked into the entrance hall together, both not wishing to part and only did when they reached the common room and left for their own rooms. Silently the rest of the night, Draco and Hermione packed both two embarrassed and stubborn to speak a word to the other first while still both madly in love.

The next morning everyone left aboard the Hogwarts Express. Of course, all the couples sat together. Harry was looking out the window with Ginny using his shoulder as a pillow and the same with Ron and Luna. They all fell asleep from the late hour they had all stayed up dancing. However, Hermione and Draco both in separate compartments, fretted over why they wouldn't start a conversation and the idiots they were being. They hadn't been able to do anything about it however by both not plucking up the courage and the fact they both fell asleep, dreaming of the two of them being together.

Hermione stepped off the train and off to her parents car, all the while watching Draco across the platform. Tears began to pour down her cheeks as she realized, since they were both waiting for the other to speak first out of the stupidity and cruelty that is love, they would never speak again. Silently she hugged all her friends good-bye and Ginny whispered comforting words to her, being the only one beside Luna who knew the true reason for her tears. Hermione listened half-heartedly as they all told her of how they'd all write and see each other soon.

Her heart truly screamed at her, ordered her to run. She wished with all her being that she could drop everything in her arms and run pell-mell towards him. Towards Draco. Towards the one person that mattered the most to her. But she didn't because of the stupidity and the cruelty. Instead of flinging herself in his arms she turned and clicked the car door shut. Crying and watching him walk off all the while they pulled away.

While Hermione silently killed herself from the inside out, Draco watched Harry and Ron load her suitcase, Hermione say good-bye to them all and go inside the car. He wanted to scream, to shout, to stop her in any way with a desire more powerful than any time he wanted to scream at his father or say no to Voldemort but instead he sighed, waiting for her to do something instead to stop him and turned to walk away. He only looked back again just as her car left to catch one last glimpse of her before they never met again.

The two went their separate ways and never saw each other again.


End file.
